If canvassers, flyers and TV debates weren't enough, Facebook is going to play its part in getting Brits to vote in this year's General Election. For tomorrow only, the social network will host the "largest ever voter registration campaign," its first in the UK, prompting eligible (read: adult) users to register to vote. Facebook is working with the Electoral Commission to place reminders in eligible users' Newsfeeds and will also add a new "Life Event" to profiles that will tell friends and family that they've registered.

The thinking behind this is clear: Facebook welcomes 35 million people every month, which is more than the number of people who voted in the 2010 General Election, when 29 million votes were recorded. By motivating Facebook-loving adults, the Election Commission hopes it can spur voter turnouts or even just remind people that it's now possible to register to vote online. If you're one of millions who use Facebook's official mobile apps, expect to see the following notice in your Newsfeed tomorrow:

Not sure where your local politicians stand in the upcoming US midterm election? You won't have to vote blind. Microsoft has followed in Google's footsteps by launching Bing Elections, its own tool for helping you make informed decisions at the voting booth. The search-based tool lets you know candidates' positions on the issues, details propositions on the ballot and predicts the outcomes for both congressional and gubernatorial races. It'll also help you find the nearest polling station if you're not certain where to go. No, the site won't let you escape aggressive campaign ads, but it may let you ignore them when it comes time to choose.

When it comes to choosing which new TV shows to make, British broadcaster UKTV is taking a leaf out of Amazon and the BBC's playbook. The company behind Dave, Really and Watch will produce pilot episodes of shows, asking users of its UKTV Play on-demand platform to vote on which one should become a series. Emma Boston, the executive behind the scheme, believes that the move will enable the company to take more risks and produce shows that'll cater to different audiences. Recombu is also reporting that the company has asked Sky and Virgin Media to share detailed ratings data in order to help UKTV produce more tailored content. Presumably the company is looking at Netflix's vast reserves of viewing data with envious eyes.

Engadget readers are nothing if not opinionated, which is why we open up the Engadget Awards for your voting each year. We solicited your picks for the best products of 2013, narrowed them down to the most popular (and weeded out those that didn't qualify) and arrived at a list of finalists across 12 categories. Vote for your favorites here -- the poll stays open till 11:59PM ET on Wednesday, March 19th. We'll be announcing Readers' Choice winners, along with the Editors' Choice picks, soon after.

At one point or another, all of us have probably argued about a questionable word or three during our Scrabble careers. Hasbro wants to make that easier (or harder, depending on your view) with a contest to add a word to the game's official dictionary. Simply head over to the contest's Facebook page to make a suggestion. Early submissions include "photobomb" and "amazeballs" -- surely you can come up with better by the March 28th deadline. From there, contest officials will put the 16 best words into an elimination bracket, and they'll tally your votes and announce a winner come April 10th. Remember: vote often. After all, you don't want something silly like "dingledorf" to go down as the first player submission, do you?

Many have accused Azerbaijan's government of running a fake democracy, and the administration hasn't helped its image with its official election app for Android and iOS. Citizens who downloaded the client were surprised to get supposedly final election results a day before voting even began. As the results showed President Aliyev winning by a landslide, critics like Meydan TV were quick to cite the app as "proof" that the election was rigged; officials just revealed their ploy too quickly. There's no hard evidence to support the accusations, however. While few believe the developer's claims that it accidentally released 2008 data as part of a test (the candidates are from 2013), the software gives Aliyev a smaller lead than the official results show as of this writing. So, it appears that any ballot stuffing likely took place outside of the app, then. More than anything, the snafu underscores the importance of quality control -- in the wrong circumstances, a flawed app can result in more than just a few annoyed users.

It's election season and Google is doing its part to help you "rock the vote." No, the search kingpin isn't endorsing a specific candidate, instead it's doing what it does best -- help people search the internet for information. The company's open source Voter Information Tool is designed to help people research candidates and locate polling places. In an effort to reach the masses, Google is partnering with companies such as Foursquare and AT&T. Election Day can be a chaotic event to say the least. Hopefully this powerful new web-based tool will make things run a little smoother for frantic voters trying to beat the clock.

Washington state has commissioned a Facebook app to provide another avenue for its residents to register to vote. Officials will soon post the software, developed by local company Microsoft, on the Secretary of State's page and allow users to like it in order to spread the word. Once it's ready, residents looking at using it will need to allow Facebook access to their personal info and provide a driver's license number or state ID number, which the social network will use to put them on the voter rolls -- but it would have no access to government databases, according to an election director. The state's current online system already saves up to $2 per voter registration, so on top of getting more out to vote, the new effort should keep even more dollars in the coffers.

Let's imagine you're both fortunate enough to have nine friends and you want to take them all out to dinner... tonight! So you send them all an invitation message, but the restaurant you've picked offends half of them for some reason. You suggest something else, and the other half object, making it a drawn-out and painful process. Worse still is that all of the SMS cross-talk is going to eat into your plan unless everyone's signed up to ChatOn. Instead, wouldn't it be great if you could just text four options in a single text message and let good old-fashioned democracy work its plan-saving course? Well thanks to the patent that Google was granted today, perhaps in the future you'll be able to do exactly that. Just remember that if you always want to get your own way, make sure both your voting group and choices are heavily biased in your favor, you wouldn't want to get dragged out to the Cabbage Soup Shack by accident, would you?

Yesterday, we announced your selections for the 2011 Engadget Awards, and now we're back with our picks. Editors' Choice awardees are designated for each of the same 15 categories that you voted in earlier this month, but these results represent our own opinions, and are not influenced by your nominations. Naturally, there's some overlap here and there, but there are plenty of newcomers as well. As you can see in the teaser just below, we've included a brief summary for each product to give you an idea of what motivated our decisions, which you'll find just beside the rest of our favorite products once you click past the break.

Also, be sure to leave a comment for your chance to win an unlocked Galaxy Nexus -- courtesy of the folks at Negri Electronics. All the rules for entering await beyond the list of winners on the other side of the break.

The results for the 2011 Engadget Awards are in! With more than 250,000 total votes, the response this year has been tremendous -- and no, that's not just another name for the Galaxy Note, which garnered just 3.5 percent of tallies in the Smartphone category. Instead, the iPhone 4S took top prize for Smartphones, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S II as the runner up. The ASUS Zenbook was the first pick among this year's Laptops, with the Apple iMac besting the rest of 2011's Desktops. Canon and Nikon battled it out till the end, but the former eventually came out ahead, earning 17.9 percent of the Digital Camera vote for its T3i, while the Nikon D5100 represented a very respectable 17.6 percent. That's just a small sample of this year's top gadgets -- there are 15 categories in all, and we're crowning both Readers' and Editors' Choice winners for each. Jump past the break for an unabridged look at your selections for the 2011 Engadget Awards, and check back tomorrow for the Editors' Choice. And if you're wondering who came in almost-first place, you can find the runners up for each category in this week's issue of Engadget Distro.

Emmys? Check. Grammys? Check. Engadget Awards 2011? Almost there. Now that we've gone through the nomination process, it's time for you to let us know who deserves to be crowned king of its category, which in some special cases, might not be something to be completely proud of. The clock's ticking and you have until 11:59PM ET on Monday February 20th to drop your precious ballot in. We'll let you know soon thereafter who's walking away a winner and who's heading back to the shelves empty-handed, as well as who earned our Editors' Choice picks.

We've sorted through the nominations and now we're relying on you to determine the real tech winners from 2011. So, if your smartphone of choice didn't get all the love you hoped it would, hop on over to the voting page and cast your vote. Keep in mind you have until 11:59PM ET on Monday February 20th to let your voice be heard. Check back for the leading vote getters along with our Editors' Choice gadgets before the end of the month.

]]>
Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:48:00 -050021|20166520http://www.engadget.com/2011awards/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011awards/http://www.engadget.com/2011awards/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsWith the nomination stage now complete, it's time for the real fun to begin -- let's get to voting! We've gathered your recommendations, adding the tops picks from each category in the 15 polls you'll find past the break. While we realize you may have several favorite gadgets for each award section, you're only permitted to vote for one in each category. You can, however, vote in as many different categories as you'd like, though you need to vote in each category individually. You have until 11:59PM ETonMonday February 20th to cast your vote. We'll be announcing your top selections alongside our Editors' Choice picks before the month is out, so head on past the break to get started!

]]>
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -050021|20162152http://www.engadget.com/2011awardsnom/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011awardsnom/http://www.engadget.com/2011awardsnom/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsWelcome to the 2011 Engadget Awards! This year we've got 15 categories up for grabs, with 30 total awards to be decided. All finalists for Engadget Awards are reader-nominated, and the editors of Engadget will then select the best of those nominations (usually somewhere between 4-6 devices) as finalists. There are two awards per category: Readers' Choice (voted on by you!), and Editors' Choice (selected by us). The vote will take place in a few weeks once the nominees are picked, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter.

Submit your favorite devices for consideration using the form just past the break, and feel free to elaborate in the comments. You don't need to fill in every field, but you are required to answer at least one question in order for your form to be processed. You've got until 11:59PM ET on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 to get your entries in. Now, go nominate!

]]>
Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:00:00 -050021|20150525http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/21/blame-the-2010-elections-for-your-parents-being-on-facebook-twi/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/21/blame-the-2010-elections-for-your-parents-being-on-facebook-twi/http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/21/blame-the-2010-elections-for-your-parents-being-on-facebook-twi/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23comments
Most of the so-called "young folks" would argue that Facebook lost its innocence the day that parents were invited to play along, but there's no question that politicians would disagree vehemently. A recent study published by the number crunchers at Pew Internet found that over half (54 percent, if we're being precise) of adults "used the internet for political purposes in the last cycle, far surpassing the 2006 midterm contest." A total of 58 percent hopped online for political news, while one in five (22 percent) used Twitter or a social networking site for "political purposes" in 2010. Taken as a whole, a staggering 73 percent of online adults took part in at least one of these activities in 2010, and judging by the power of these networks in the recent Middle Eastern / African uprisings, we get the impression that figures will only be rising in elections to come. Too bad you can't "Like" a politician to give them your vote -- haven't these polling places realized what century we're in?

Unlike the secrecy that usually surrounds e-voting efforts, the folks at the Washington D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics had a novel approach: Why not invite hacksters of all stripes and temperaments to bust into the new online system being tested for overseas and military voters? Of course, it was only a matter of time before a security hole was discovered -- and now we know that the University of Michigan fight song is called The Victors. It seems that a certain college professor unleashed his students on the site, at which point they quickly sniffed a way in and left an MP3 of the tune ("the greatest college fight song ever written," according to John Philip Sousa) as their calling card. The board has made the source code and server info available (the better to test its mettle) and we must say, it's certainly good to see public officials paying more than lip service to security -- especially where electronic voting is concerned. The site was down over the weekend, and is back up now, but with one crucial difference: ballots will have to be mailed, faxed, or e-mailed in.

]]>
Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:39:00 -040021|19664823http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/23/e-voting-whistleblower-hari-prasad-arrested-taken-to-mumbai-for/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/23/e-voting-whistleblower-hari-prasad-arrested-taken-to-mumbai-for/http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/23/e-voting-whistleblower-hari-prasad-arrested-taken-to-mumbai-for/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23comments
In America, when you demonstrate what a racket e-voting is, you get to play Pac-Man. In India? You just might get arrested. Security researcher Hari Prasad made waves earlier this month when he demonstrated how an e-voting machine might be compromised, live on national television. It is now being reported that police have taken Prasad into custody, ostensibly for the theft of the machine, although folks in the know are suggesting that a cover-up is in the works. For Prasad's part, he refuses to give up the source of the machine -- and has been taken by police to Mumbai (a fourteen hour drive) to undergo questioning. According to researcher Alex Halderman there are some 1.4 million e-voting machines in use in India, all of which the government keeps out of the hands of researchers on intellectual property grounds -- and all of which might be vulnerable to fraud. There's a brief discussion with Prasad after the break.

]]>
Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:46:00 -040021|19604372http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/14/premier-elections-solutions-pays-up-in-ohio-diebold-suit-offers/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/14/premier-elections-solutions-pays-up-in-ohio-diebold-suit-offers/http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/14/premier-elections-solutions-pays-up-in-ohio-diebold-suit-offers/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsMan, this is rich. Some two years after being sued by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, Premier Elections Solutions (formerly, and more infamously known as Diebold) has decided to settle up. Way back when, Brunner alleged that the outfit's touch-screen voting machines weren't acting as they should, and she pointed to an investigation that proved at least 11 counties were dropped in past elections when their memory cards were uploaded to servers. As of now, Premiere -- which is owned by Election Systems & Software -- has agreed to pony up just over $470,000 to the 47 counties that touched its e-voting hardware, but that's hardly the kicker. Counties are also eligible for up to $2.4 million in free Premiere software for two years, and the company's even throwing in up to 2,909 free voting machines along with a 50 percent coupon for maintenance fees. Right, because the Buckeye State is so anxious to start using the machines it found so faulty to begin with. Makes total sense.

Update: We've learned from someone inside of Ohio elections that 11 counties experienced a failed upload of results from a memory card during the unofficial canvas (election night), but those results were recovered during the official canvas several days later. The statewide results included all counties. And know you know.

Oh, Princeton University, won't you leave the poor electronic voting machines alone? Haven't they suffered enough without you forming teams with researchers from the University of California, San Diego and the University of Michigan to spread their private moments even further asunder? That group of brainiacs came together to devise a new, even easier hack that allows someone with no special access to take complete control of a Sequoia AVC Advantage voting machine -- an example of which the team purchased legally at a government auction. The machine does not allow modifications to its ROM (because it has an O in the middle), but the team was able to use a technique called return-oriented programming to modify how the machine executes existing code, taking the bits they want and, ultimately, devising a way to re-program its behavior by simply inserting a cartridge into a slot -- presumably after blowing on it for good luck. The hack only works until the machine is powered off, but the attack even foils that, intercepting the switch signal and making the system only appear to power down. Today's top tip for electronic voting polling stations: unplug your boxes overnight.

]]>
Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:19:00 -040021|19128016http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/28/electronic-voting-outlawed-in-ireland-michael-flatley-dvds-okay/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/28/electronic-voting-outlawed-in-ireland-michael-flatley-dvds-okay/http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/28/electronic-voting-outlawed-in-ireland-michael-flatley-dvds-okay/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23comments
Yes, it's another international blow for electronic voting. We've seen the things proven to be insecure, illegal, and, most recently, unconstitutional. Now the Emerald Isle is taking a similar step, scrapping an e-voting network that has cost €51 million to develop (about $66 million) in favor of good 'ol paper ballots. With that crisis averted Irish politicians can get back to what they do best: blaming each other for wasting €51 million in taxpayer money.

Oh, e-voting machines... ever since they arrived on the scene to challenge old timey lever-laden beasts of yore (not to mention pencils and paper, if you remember what those are), there have been numberless examples of their hackability, their unreliable software, and the general mayhem caused by not having a paper trail in elections. It's been a fun ride, but one that's causing a ruckus in Germany... almost four years after the fact, anyway. That's right, the country's highest court has ruled that the 2005 General Election was, in fact, unconstitutional, after the use of e-voting machines was challenged by a father and son team. The ruling states that while the voting was unconstitutional (read: illegal) because the software used on the machines is unreliable, they have not proven that any mistakes were made, nor do they rule out the possibility of using such machines in the future, when stuff will be cooler and work better.

]]>
Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:09:00 -050021|1478491http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/13/estonia-to-allow-citizens-to-vote-via-cellphone-by-2011/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/13/estonia-to-allow-citizens-to-vote-via-cellphone-by-2011/http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/13/estonia-to-allow-citizens-to-vote-via-cellphone-by-2011/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsBrutal honesty here: on election day this past November, the entire Engadget staff (well, those of us with US passports) collectively agreed that casting our vote via SMS or some other incredibly simple method would be infinitely more awesome than trudging out in the streets and waiting in hour-long lines. Clearly, some higher-ups in Estonia are on board with that concept, as its Parliament has approved a law that will likely make it the first nation on Planet Earth to give citizens the right to vote by phone in something that matters (American Idol notwithstanding). 'Course, those who choose to take advantage must first obtain a free authorization chip for their handset, which sort of kills the whole "not having to leave your house" aspect of all this. Ah well, at least we're moving in the right direction.

]]>
Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:18:00 -050021|1400116http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/13/estonia-to-allow-citizens-to-vote-via-cellphone-by-2011/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/13/estonia-to-allow-citizens-to-vote-via-cellphone-by-2011/http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/13/estonia-to-allow-citizens-to-vote-via-cellphone-by-2011/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23commentsBrutal honesty here: on election day this past November, the entire Engadget staff (well, those of us with US passports) collectively agreed that casting our vote via SMS or some other incredibly simple method would be infinitely more awesome than trudging out in the streets and waiting in hour-long lines. Clearly, some higher-ups in Estonia are on board with that concept, as its Parliament has approved a law that will likely make it the first nation on Planet Earth to give citizens the right to vote by phone in something that matters (American Idol notwithstanding). 'Course, those who choose to take advantage must first obtain a free authorization chip for their handset, which sort of kills the whole "not having to leave your house" aspect of all this. Ah well, at least we're moving in the right direction.

]]>
Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:18:00 -050021|1400113http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/08/diebolds-e-voting-machines-violate-gpl-good-taste/%3Futm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%26ncid%3Drss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/08/diebolds-e-voting-machines-violate-gpl-good-taste/http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/08/diebolds-e-voting-machines-violate-gpl-good-taste/%3Futm_source%3DFeed_Classic%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_campaign%3DEngadget%23comments
Diebold just can't seem to keep its nose clean these days. The nation's largest manufacturer of ATMs admitted not too long ago what everybody already knew: that their e-voting machines were totally bunk. Apparently in the course of that investigation it emerged that the company also thought it would be a laugh to load the open source Ghostscript Postscript interpreter software into those faulty machines without releasing its changes or paying the proprietary usage license fee -- leading Aritex, its developer, to file a lawsuit. It doesn't really instill confidence any further to hear that our nation's terrible electronic voting machines are running on stolen software, guys -- and to be honest, we're kinda starting to wish you'd get out of the ATM business, too.